Israel strikes back after suicide bomb

10:39AM BST 10 Aug 2001

ISRAEL has launched swift and hard-hitting strikes on the Palestinian Authority in retaliation for yesterday's deadly suicide bomb blast.

The wave of attacks came just hours after the explosion at a busy west Jerusalem pizzeria. Police said the death toll stood at 15, including six children, revised down from 18. A further 80 people were injured.

Israeli forces this morning seized Palestine Liberation Organisation's unofficial headquarters in east Jerusalem, flying a Star of David flag from the roof, as well as positions in neighbouring Abu Dis. War planes blitzed Palestinian police headquarters in the West Bank and tanks moved into the Gaza Strip.

An F-16 fighter jet fired three missiles at the Ramallah police station. The building, located in the west of the city, had been evacuated in anticipation of an Israeli attack, Palestinian security officials said.

They said no one was injured, but that '80 per cent' of the building was damaged. The office serves as the Palestinian police headquarters for the West Bank.

Israeli tanks moved almost half a mile into Palestinian territory in the Gaza Strip, shelling and destroying a Palestinian security position, said Palestinian officials.

In a simultaneous swoop, Israeli police occupied Orient House in east Jerusalem.

"This is an occupation of the place and an attempt to impose the status quo of Israeli domination over the Palestinian territories," said Orient House official Hatem Abdel Kadar.

Israeli government spokesman Daniel Seamam confirmed the operation, saying seven people had been arrested and Orient House closed 'until further orders because it was a centre for incitement to violence'.

He denied Kadar's claims that two guards had been beaten in the operation.

Israel says the Palestinian Authority, led by Yasser Arafat, is partly responsible for bomb attacks on Israelis, accusing it of inciting bombers and refusing to clamp down on 'terrorists'.

In response, Arafat warned that the strikes had escalated the conflict and would strengthen the Palestinian movement.

"These Israeli attacks against the Palestinian people are a big escalation," Arafat said at the ruins of the Ramallah police station.

"Everybody has to understand we are stronger, harder and believe even more after the Israeli attacks."

In another Israeli operation, Israeli police occupied a Palestinian Authority and security office in Abu Dis, the Palestinian official said.

The strike in Ramallah was the first time since May 18 that Israel has used war planes in the Palestinian territories, and only the second time since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

Three planes struck the West Bank in May after a Palestinian suicide bomb attack in northern Israel.

Meanwhile, residents in the West Bank town of Bethlehem reported seeing Israeli Apache helicopters fly overhead early Friday.

Witnesses in Jenin, in the northern West Bank, said they had seen heavy movement of Israeli forces on the edge of town.

Tanks later destroyed a Palestinian police post and fired on homes, without causing any injuries, east of Gaza City, Palestinian security said.

Israeli tanks penetrated 1,300 metres into the sectors of Karni and Jabbalia near Gaza City and also entered Netzarim.

The bombing was the worst attack on Jerusalem since the Palestinian uprising began, pushing the death toll for the 10-month conflict past the 700 mark.

The dead included five members of the same family of Jewish settlers from the West Bank, with both parents and three children wiped out by the blast, according to relatives.

The Jerusalem Post reported that the dead included two tourists, a 31-year-old woman from the United States and a 60-year-old man from Brazil.

The attack was initially claimed by the Islamic Jihad group, but its rival, the larger Hamas organisation, later assumed responsibility for the explosion.

Hamas has lost at least nine activists in the past month due to Israel's policy of the targeted killing of Palestinian militants.

The tactic, described by Israel as 'self-defence' to ward off further killings of Israelis, has been condemned by the international community and drawn urgent Palestinian pleas for international observers to be deployed.

An Israeli soldier and a female settler were also shot dead in separate incidents Thursday in the West Bank by alleged Palestinian gunmen.

Meanwhile Friday, Israeli police were on maximum alert in east Jerusalem ahead of weekly Muslim prayers, with severe restrictions placed on access to the quarter's al-Aqsa mosque compound, police said.